Goals for the Future Part 1

Use Google Maps more...I mean...just use Google Maps with my class. A cool idea comes from We Tell Stories, a digital writing project from Penguin UK. Six authors have been challenged to create new forms of story - designed specifically for the Internet and that "...take full advantage of the immediacy, connectivity and interactivity that is now possible." The first story is told by following the story through Google Maps as it unfolds.

Obviously, there are numerous ways to do this same type of thing in the classroom. I'm thinking of doing something similar in social studies--Paul Revere's Ride, hiking the Appalachian Trail, Lewis and Clark's journey, the Trail of Tears, etc.

Goal #1 - Embed Google Maps into my classroom blog.

Comments: A Great Way to Test Ideas

Will Richardson's Weblogg-ed blog has to be the most widely read educator (or former educator) blog in the blogosphere. So when he rants on a topic, you can pretty much guarantee that after clicking the comment link, the discussion you see will be rich.

I've taken an interest in 21st Century learning this year so his recent post on 21st Century skills for educators sparked my interest. As usual, the content of his post was thought-provoking, but the comments of the folks around the world who put in their 2-cents worth are just as enlightening. On a blog like this, with such a large number of readers, adding your opinion to the discussion becomes a great way to test your ideas. Throw out an idea and see if anyone reacts; if you're lucky, someone will affirm your belief or, even better, push back with something that makes you rethink your position. Heck, even if you never leave a comment, but have a definite opinion on the topic, your bound to find something while reading over the dozens of comments that can help you form a more complete opinion. By the way, I simply read the comments without contributing.

Having access to this community of educators, discussing and debating important topics, is extremely exciting. If only we could replicate this kind of dialogue with our students!

Technorati Tags: Will Richardson, education, teachers, blogging,

Check out: Rainforest Webquest | Digital Cameras in the Classroom | Alphabet Geometry

Scribe Posts: The Fifth Grade Version

This year my goal is to take my students' blogging to the next level. Instead of using their blogs as repositories for project-based learning, I've decided that I want my students using their blogs as bloggers do--to communicate and connect with another. I want students publishing thoughts on the days work, linking to other websites and student posts, and to dialogue with one another through comments.

These are big goals for fifth graders, so I've decided to start with my accelerated math classes. These kids are pretty sharp and extremely motivated, so I feel like they could take these goals and run with them. I've decided the best method for reaching these goals is to have them begin doing Scribe Posts, similar to the ones that Darren Kuroptawa over at the A Difference blog has had his students doing.

Below is how I described Scribe Posts to my students:

Scribes were highly valued members of Ancient Egyptian society. They studied for many years to learn to read and write and were hired to keep careful records of everything produced. As a result, almost all of our known knowledge about the Ancient Egyptians came from the work of the scribe.

With this blog, you will be performing a job similar to that of the Ancient Egyptian scribe. You will do this through what are called Scribe Posts. In a scribe post, you will account the day's activities from math class. Each post should contain:

• The day’s learning target

• An example problem

• A short lesson on the topic

• Some media: a link, a photo, some audio, etc.

Each day two people will write the scribe post. The next day two different people will write it and then so on until we get back to the original two and they will start the cycle over again. The day that you do the scribe post you will have a reduced amount of homework; just enough to get some practice with the day's learning.

As of now, I've also planned to have each student buddy up with three other students in an effort to get them commenting on and linking to each other's blogs. It'll take quite a bit of guidance at first, but as is often written in the educational blogoshpere, the benefits should be enormous.

Technorati Tags: Blogging | education | teachers | A Difference

Digital Cameras in the Classroom | Blogs in the Classroom | Technology in the Classroom

Math Playground Interview

The number of math teachers with blogs continues to grow. A few weeks ago I heard from Colleen in Massachusetts. She is co-director of Math Advantage, a K-12 math enrichment center in the Boston area. She told me about her website, Math Playground, and the accompanying blog. I quickly subscribed to her blog and look forward to her updates.

The lastest update has definitely been the most exciting one, for me at least. It features an interview with yours truly. I was really impressed with the quality of the questions that she asked; they were the type that make one really ponder their classroom practice and philosophy.

Solar Energy: A Lesson Plan & A Blog WebQuest

Ohio Standards - (with my annotations)

• Science (Grade 6) -
  
• Physical Science
  
• Explain that energy derived from renewable resources is assumed to be available indefinitely. (from textbook)
  
• Science & Technology
  
• Explain how decisions about the use of products and systems can result in desirable or undesirable consequences. (after finishing, compare solar energy to nonrenewable resources)
  
• Design and build a product or create a solution to a problem given one constraint (environmental effects). (how does technology like solar collectors reduce environmental pollution?)
  
• Scientific Inquiry
• Distinguish between observation and inference. (Students observe temperature increase and then make inferences about hypotheses)
  
• Explain that a single example can never prove that something is always correct. (test the solar collectors over two days)
  
• Scientific Ways of Knowing
• Describe why it is important to keep clear, thorough and accurate records. (students can repeat other students' experiments)
  

Materials & Technology

• Links to the following websites - Energy Story, Solar Cooking Plans, Catching Sunshine
  
• Blogs w/WebQuest
• Materials for solar collectors
• Digital Camera
• Spreadsheet Software
  

Background

The webquest portion of this lesson replaces the traditional mode of introducing a classroom project to students. Typically, I type up a handout that lists the requirements and a scoring guide and go over it in class. Students will learn about all of this and more through the WebQuest.

The project students will be working on is creating a solar collector (or cooker or oven). The goals of this project are:

• Through project-based learning, the kids discover how scientists harness the sun's energy and use it as an alternative to nonrenewable resources.
• The kids develop hypotheses about:
• how the colors and textures that line the inside of the collector affect the temperature increase.
  
• how to point the cooker to achieve the greatest temperature increase.
• how to insulate it to achieve the greatest temperature increase.
  
• Students use technology (blogs) to:
• research information about solar energy.
• find out how to build the solar collector.
• communicate with their teacher about learning, collector designs and materials, and more
• to create a line graph of collected data
  

Procedure

1. (Day One) Introduce students to the terms resources, nonrenewable resources, and renewable resources. Make sure students are aware of examples for each. Finally, discuss benefits and drawbacks of each type of resource. I did this through the textbook.
   
2. (Day Two) Begin WebQuest. Students should complete the first two sections of the WebQuest (Introduction & Task) and communicate their learning to the teacher through the comment link. In this section, students learn about solar energy and how it is used to create electricity. They also learn about various solar cooker designs and the materials used to create them.
   
3. (Day Three) Students read and complete step one in the process section. In this section, they learn about the science behind how the solar collector works. They also get into more detail on the designs and materials needed. Students should have an idea of what design they want to use before the end of day three. In fact, their assignment is to decide on a design and: draw a picture of it, list the materials needed, and write down three questions they expect to answer from it.
   
4. (Days Four & Five) Students construct their solar cookers.
5. (Day Six) Students begin testing their cookers. Before doing so, they choose one of the three questions they asked earlier and turn it into a hypothesis. They can choose to alter their own collector for their test or compare their results with someone else. Testing is done by placing a thermometer in the container that students have chosen to put in the middle of their cookers. Read more here. At this point, take photos of students' cookers.
   
6. (Day Seven, Eight, & Nine) Students create a blog entry that summarizes the project. Included in the entry are:
1. a line graph that students create with a spreadsheet.
2. a photo of their solar collector.
   
3. their question and hypotheses.
   
4. the procedure.
5. the results (graph goes here).
6. conclusions.
7. answers to the discussion questions.

Evaluation

Create a rubric using the requirements for the final blog entry above.

Student examples by the end of the week!!


Check out: Alphabet Geometry | Symmetry in Nature | Classroom Blogs

Technorati Tags: lessonplans | teachers | blogs | Webquests

Great Day for Classroom Blogging

I had one of the better experiences I've had as a teacher this past Tuesday at the eTech Ohio State Technology Conference in Columbus. Five of my students did an amazing job displaying the work they have been doing with blogs in the classroom. They were bombarded with questions from educators and few of those educators left the display without complimenting the kids' knowledge of the technology.

In the afternoon, I presented what I would call a very successful session to about 60 educators called Blogging Across the Curriculum (see the slideshow). It was a mixed crowd--some folks looking to get started some veterans looking for ideas. I was pleased to find out that there were quite a few administrators and tech leaders who were there to find out how to get their teachers blogging.

Unfortunately, the undercurrent of fear that has been written about throughout the blogosphere lately kept coming up. I fielded numerous questions about cyberbullying, inappropriate posts from students, and privacy issues. I responded by saying that that I haven't had to worry about these problems yet, but I am more than willing to take the risk because I feel that blogs are an extraordinary tool for increasing student achievement motivation in the classroom. I wish I had said more about how our students are already aware of what is right and what is wrong in a school setting and they should know better. Furthermore, having a strict blogging policy in place would put it in writing for those who don't.

I'm not so happy about missing Alan November's presentation that morning. He was on when I came in the door and I didn't get to hear a word of what he had to say. With the way the day turned out, I think I'll survive.

Technorati Tags: blogs, teachers, education, misterteacher

Writely: Blogging Handout as a Webpage

I've got a presentation coming up next month at the eTech Ohio State Technology Conference called Blogging Across the Curriculum in which I plan to relate my experiences with using blogs in the classroom. I just posted the agenda using Writely.

I gotta say, I really like this whole web-based word processing thing. Working on a document from home and work without having to transport it on a disk or email it back and forth is beyond convenient. I also like the fact that I can publish my documents in several different formats, particularly as a web page.